thomascwaters.com

Of those discharged under the policy, 36 percent were women, although women make up only 14 percent of troops in the Army, the data showed.

Yesterday I posted about Mary Cheney, her new baby and some of the connections between class and the resistance to LGBT rights of any kind, but especially same-sex marriage. I received several very kind and meaningful compliments for the post, and thanks to those from whom I received the calls and comments. But re-reading the post, I’m not sure I did much other than lay out the questions. Don’t think I answered too many of them or illustrated the points all that well.

Today’s post may end up being similar, and if you have thoughts about the issues raised, please please chime in and share them with a comment. The linked CNN story is quite short and I’ll look for more to better explain this story, but basically it says that more women are discharged proportionately more than men using DADT. This was a big surprise for me, because most (all??) of the high profile cases I’m aware of, are men. Guys like Dan Choi for example. Racking my brain (although that rarely helps) I can’t remember a single high profile/publicized case of a woman being discharged for DADT. What’s up with that? There are probably a few good thesis projects in here, so if you use one of them, please give me an acknowledgement in your published thesis or dissertation.

One thing before I go on, the CNN title is a little misleading: “More women than men dismissed from military for being gay.” It isn’t true to say that of 100 discharges more of them are women. Women are 36% of the discharges. but given that women make up only 16% of the armed forces, this rate of 36% seems very high. It suggests a lesbian is twice as likely to get kicked out as her gay counterpart. Or is that four times as likely… I need a stats class!

Here are some of the questions raised for me:

• Are more women discharged because a disproportionately larger number of lesbians join the armed forces than men? For example, if 100 gays and lesbians join the armed forces, are 70 of them women? Probably no easy way to answer this given the nature of don’t ask, don’t tell. My reasoning here, is that if queer men and women are discharged at an equal rate, then the number of women discharged would be closer to 16% unless more women who enter are lesbians than the number of men who enter are gay. I would doubt this. My guess is that more gay men enter the armed forces than lesbians, or that the rate is closer to equal.
• Are gay men accepted by their colleagues more commonly than lesbians? In other words, while many good and qualified people are kicked out, it might be the case that a number of troops accept their gay and lesbian members, but especially their gay members. Perhaps a gay man is more accepted than his female counterpart and is less likely to be called into question.
• Do gay men, “hide” better in the military than gay women? Is the reason for the disproportionately higher rate among women because their gay counterparts are able to blend in easier than the women are, so that the women are found easier? This may be connected to the earlier question. Is it that they blend in and hide easier or just that others choose not to see them as readily?
• Are the methods for outing gay men and lesbian women the same or different in the military? In otherwords, how is it that most lesbians are discovered , and is that the same or different than for gay men?

I tend to think that there is a role for basic sexism in the equation. Women are a minority within the armed forces and still seen by some, as not belonging there. The levels of testosterone are high among the armed forces, and I would anticipate that many women struggle to be treated as equal, even without the marker of being a lesbian added to it. Straight men love the notion of lesbians as play toys for real men, but the notion that a woman as equal to them, that one is a stretch for many men. Gender roles and forced notions of what being Male and what being Female mean is still a prevailing dynamic in our society as a whole, and would most definitely be at play within a microcosmic and performance heightened arena of the military.

Add your thoughts- add a comment- let me know what you think!

via More women than men dismissed from military for being gay – CNN.com.